GREENPEACE CALLS FOR BAN ON ALL TOXIC POLLUTANTS

20 March 2000

AMSTERDAM/BONN -- Greenpeace erected a symbolic wall of dioxin barrels today to stress delegates the urgent need to eliminate all persistent organic pollutants (POPs) including dioxins, as they arrived in Germany to negotiate a global ban.

Delegates from over 100 countries were met by twenty Greenpeace activists who had redesigned the entrance to Bundeshaus in Bonn. The barrels, painted with the message "Stop Dioxin", formed a corridor along which delegates had to walk in order to enter the building where the negotiations were commencing. The activists urged delegates to secure a toxic free future by eliminating POPs, some of the most hazardous chemicals to which natural systems are exposed.

"Dioxins and other POPs pose a global toxic threat to both present and future generations," said Greenpeace spokesperson, Wytze van der Naald.

"Research shows they are poisoning our environment, our food and our bodies. The decision taken this week in Bonn will be pivotal to a global agreement to eliminate all sources of POPs", he added.

The elimination of dioxins is one of the key issues at this week’s negotiations. Dioxins are the unintentional by-products of industrial manufacturing processes, involving chlorine, such as paper bleaching, manufacture of PVC plastics and incineration. They are amongst the 12 substances listed for urgent action by the United Nation’s Environment Programme (UNEP) and one of the most toxic chemicals known to science.

In addition to POPs that are the unintended by-products, UNEP has also targeted intentionally produced POPs, such as PCBs as pesticides, for elimination amongst its "dirty dozen".

POPs are very resistant to natural breakdown and they accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals and humans. Many are highly toxic and several have been found to disrupt the hormone systems of wildlife and humans. Of particular concern are the toxic effects of POPs on young children and the developing foetus. Most people are exposed to POPs through contamination of their everyday foods.

If the negotiations succeed, the treaty will put an end to the production and use of intentionally produced POPs world-wide. A majority of countries agree that all of the 12 POPs listed by UNEP should be eliminated. However, there is still strong opposition from a few countries, led by the US, which has been unwilling to accept dioxin elimination as it wants to protect its polluting industries which are some of the world’s largest known dioxin emitters.

Most countries have already agreed to ban the production and use of many of the intentionally produced POPs and to eliminate dioxins at a regional level, such as EU members states under the OSPAR convention (1), as well as Mediterranean countries under the Barcelona Convention.

However, in a leaked communiqué from the US to the EU last month, the US even threatened to block this week’s negotiations if the EU would not join the US in their opposition against elimination of dioxins.

"Governments of the world must stop this toxic legacy by eliminating the production and use of POPs, including by-products such as dioxins," said van der Naald. "The health of the planet must not be held ransom by the arrow economic interests of a few nations."

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

- Wytze van der Naald, Toxics Campaigner, Greenpeace International +31 6 250 31011
- Matilda Bradshaw, Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 6 535 04701

Other Greenpeace reports on POPS are available here (pdf format):
Recipe for Disaster; POPs in Food
Unseen Poisons in Asia
The Tip of the Iceberg: State of knowledge on POPs in Europe and the Arctic

(1) 15 European countries and the EU are members of OSPAR, which aims to eliminate releases of hazardous substances, including dioxins, into the marine environment by 2020.